Realising

A Thing I wanted to crochet

I rendered an image of what I'm imagining.

Currently, I'm not sure if I'd like it to look quite like this or if I'd like a longer neck. I thought until I've decided, I would make the neck separately and decide on attaching it or not later.

The neck:

Chain 11 + 1 turning.
Slip stitch across.
Sl st blo across.
Sl st blo 16 rows.
Sl st blo across, ch 1 (not the turning).
Sl st blo across (12 st).
Sl st blo 2 rows.
Sl st blo across, ch 1 (not the turning).
Sl st blo across (13 st).
Sl st blo 30 rows.
Sl st blo 2tog, sl st blo across (12 st).
Sl st blo 3 rows.
Sl st blo 2tog, sl st blo across (11 st).
Sl st blo 18 rows.
Seam inside out.

Now that I've made the neck, I'm too pleased with it to exclude it and I'd like it seamless so I'll include it now, working from the bottom down. A discrete raglan construction will do.

4 set 24 23:06:06

This is working up smoothly and I like it. I'm working with a moss stitch. I've used it in clothing before, in the only proper clothing item I've ever worn out and enjoyed making use of. Four increases every other round, two increase stitches per increase (due to the nature of the stitch). I've crocheted 16 rounds, excluding a single crochet round in transitioning from the neck.

Single crochet around neck, back of stitches facing out, one stitch for every line of "knit" stitches (76 stitches).

Chain 1 and turn.
Starting with single crochet, moss stitch 9 stitches, inc(by2), moss 18, inc, moss 18, inc, moss 18, inc, moss 9, join.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 10, inc, moss 20, inc, moss 20, inc, moss 20, inc, moss 10.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 11, inc, moss 22, inc, moss 22, inc, moss 22, inc, moss 11.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 12, inc, moss 24, inc, moss 24, inc, moss 24, inc, moss 12.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 13, inc, moss 26, inc, moss 26, inc, moss 26, inc, moss 13.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 14, inc, moss 28, inc, moss 28, inc, moss 28, inc, moss 14.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 15, inc, moss 30, inc, moss 30, inc, moss 30, inc, moss 15.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 16, inc, moss 32, inc, moss 32, inc, moss 32, inc, moss 16.
Moss stitch around.

23:42:08 8 set 2024

So things have changed. And, the sweater is finished.

9 set 2024

First, general methods and completion.

I continued increasing until the yoke could be joined to form armholes. Between joining, beginning the body, trying on, rejoining, etc., there was a lot of undoing and unravelling. I momentarily consider unravelling the whole project and beginning from scratch, but I'll go over that further in final notes. One of the issues I was having was aligning the back and front. At first, I was creating perfectly symmetrical joins until I realised if the front of the sweater needs to be pulled downwards, then the back corners need to be attached a bit higher than where the front corners fall. Once I sorted this, the next bit of unravelling was done as I realised I need increases around the chest.

Some more reworking and unravelling came a bit later, but that was to do with change in design direction. I initially had planned on a sweater with a lace waist. As I worked and tested different stitches, I knew that design would require me to change yarns or work an entirely different yarn for the weight and drapery I'd imagined. I'd also just been enjoying the appearance of a fuller sweater as well as the short sleeves, so I changed direction to a ribbed waist.

*Always turn after a round unless otherwise instructed (maintain seam and pattern); all increases are an increase by 2 (maintain pattern) balanced out by a following straight round. [21:33:30 9 set 2024.]

The workings [worsted weight yarn, 5.0 mm hook]:

Single crochet around neck, back of stitches facing out, one stitch for every line of "knit" stitches (76 stitches).

Moss 26 (until the corner), sc into 26th stitch (you should have ended with chain in working moss for 26; this is an increase), chain 3, sc 48 stitches away (3 up from front corner), chain (mirror the increase; work back into pattern since you just sc into a sc), moss 57 (until 3 after the next corner), chain (mirror the increase), chain 3, chain (mirror the increase — this is your 5th chain), sc 48 stitches away (back corner), continue in moss. Join.
Moss stitch around.
Moss stitch around.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 29, inc in 30th, moss 60, inc, moss 29.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 29, inc in 30th, moss 64, inc, moss 29.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 29, inc in 30th, moss 68, inc, moss 29.
Moss stitch around.
Moss stitch 10 more rounds.
Moss 30, dec(by2) over next 3 stitches, moss 67, dec(by2) over next 3 stitches, moss 29.
Moss stitch around.
Moss 30, dec(by2) over next 3 stitches, moss 63, dec(by2) over next 3 stitches, moss 29.
Moss 30, dec(by2) over next 3 stitches, moss 59, dec(by2) over next 3 stitches, moss 29.

Slip stitch into first stitch of round (chain space).
Chain 20 + 1 turning chain.
Sl st blo across. Sl st into next stitch of last round (a sc).
Sl st into next stitch of last round (a sl st). Sl st blo across.
.
[Work ribbing, sl st blo, sl stitching into final round to connect as you go]
.
Working inside out, sl st seam first and last row together having worked 120 rows. Sl st into final round.

Gist:

Neck, ribbed, 38 lines (76 rows).
Yoke, avg. inc 4 stitches per round for 32 rounds.
Connect back corners to 3 above front corners plus ch 3 for armholes, with 3 more rounds without inc. Inc on front edges every other row for 6 rows, 10 rounds without inc, dec on front edges every other round for three rounds, dec again last round, finish off with 24 rounds total for body.
Work ribbing edge, 20 stitches.

Final notes:

The unravelling: for a while there was rippling around the collarbone I wasn't pleased with. I'm intent on having this be genuinely wearable, not just tolerable, so I considered adding an extra increase to the mid-shoulder before transitioning to 4 inc per round (on avg.) since I know 4 inc per round in sc crochet gives the exact angle I desired. The rippling and pulling up was also exaggerating another issue: the front of the collar is quite high, higher than intended in design. Note— while it may be useful on a shorter collar, the neck increases toward the front are not needed when working the ribbing. I considered unravelling the whole project to remedy this, but once I figured out aligning the armholes and pulling the front down, it was smooth. I worried about it pulling up again over time, but I've tried the sweater, worn it a bit, and this wasn't an issue. In future, still, do not work the increases on the neck, if anything, consider a small decrease.
Armholes: I worked a few rows without increase after forming the armholes before I made increases for the chest. You can shift the order of the chunks, working the increase section immediately and including the 3 rounds of no increase in the following section.

[9 set 2024 circa 17:37.]

This is a public note. It is not a pattern. This documentation of my process has been made public with little clarification in case there is anything to be learned.